Friday, March 27, 2009

foodie thursday in kobe

Satoshi was supposed to have the day off yesterday, but had an emergency at work. So that left me to go galavanting in Kobe on my own.

I first went to Kobe Grocers. I was reminded by a reader that there was an import grocery store in the Kitano area. Actually when I studied in Kobe, we went to this grocery store to buy ingredients to make lasagna (I am pretty sure it was the same store).

This store is super teeny, only 3 aisles, but the shelves are packed with all sorts of stuff. And there is not really much organization to the shelving, just putting stuff wherever it fits. I spent a good half hour in there perusing the different things.

The bulk of my purchases were stuff that I couldn't find at the gourmet supermarket that I usually visit...like Italian sausage, pitas (graham flour pitas), chicken broth. Everything was kind of pricey but I felt they were worth it. Especially since most markets don't carry these items.

Then I walked down Tor Road and went into this fancy bakery, Le Dimanche, which I think means Sunday.

Anyway, they had so many things that I wanted to get one of each.

I ended up picking up a croque monsieur, curry bread and a danish with caramel and nuts.

The croque monsieur and curry bread was delicious. Most times you can find fried curry bread but this one was baked and the dough was a baguette dough, nice and chewy. The danish was delicious too. The caramel was like a brittle and there were lots of nuts (cashew, almond and hazelnut).

Right around the corner from the bakery was La Pierre Blanche, a sweet shop. I had been wanting to visit them but they were under renovation the last time I was in Kobe.

I purchased their fig kugelhof and a rose macaron.

Both the kugelhof and macaron were dipped in dark chocolate.

The macaron was delicious. A rose flavored gel and rose flavored buttercream. Not perfumy but a light rose flavor. This was really good.

The kugelhof was filled with figs, with almost every bite you had seeds popping in your mouth. The chocolate was nicely balance with the sweetness of the figs.

It was too bad that Satoshi had to go into work today. I'll take him around Kobe some other day. (Thanks for working so hard Satoshi)

14 comments:

Your day in Kobe sounds wonderful. I just found your blog and enjoy reading all of your adventures. Two of my favorite places are Hawaii & Japan, so this "find" in blog land is a wonderful treasure.Cheers!

Another interesting day in the life of Kat, lol. I thoroughly enjoyed the post. Glad you found the lil store. Sometimes, I too will pay a bit more in the spirit of economics - it satisfies my wants, so it is worth it.

I think it really depends on your taste, since when they only have medium in the store, I find myself adding a few more flakes of crushed red pepper into my sauce. It's terrific.

My one suggestion is: when you cook up the sausage (and before adding the pasta sauce), saute the meat with some Italian seasoning and red wine. It brings a whole lot of depth and added flavor to your pasta sauce.